Best Gadgets World

Much like cartoons, most gadgets and videogames are really not meant for kids. Let your toddler play Grand Theft Auto for a while or mess with your iPod and you’ll probably not be too happy with the results.

As a safer and more education alternative, LeapFrog Enterprises has been selling the Leaspter educational gaming system for about four years in retail stores across the US. This Summer (2008), LeapFrog will update the Leapster with web connectivity and also release a new handheld, web-enabled system called Didj.

The web element for both systems will be LeapFrog’s upcoming Learning Path where parents will be able to log in to track their children’s progress in each educational area.

Read [Gamertell]

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Posted Feb 10th 2008 1:29PM by Chris Ziegler
Filed under: cellphones, Handhelds
Microsoft has now won a veritable superfecta of licensing, landing deals with four of the top five phone manufacturers in the world to provide handsets based on Windows Mobile. The latest, announced today at Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress, is Sony Ericsson — a company heavily vested in Symbian by way of its UIQ division, so it’s unclear how the licensing deal will ultimately affect UIQ-based offerings. Stay tuned for more on the deal and details on Sony Ericsson’s WinMo-based hardware!

Posted Feb 10th 2008 2:45PM by Evan Blass
Filed under: Gaming We’re not gonna read too much into this just yet, but when everyone’s favorite fruit-flavored consumer electronics company files to protect its trademark as it relates to a wide range of gaming devices, well, we feel you’d want to know. The USPTO sleuths over at Trademork just gave us the heads up on this recently-filed application from Cupertino, which requests protection of the word “APPLE” for products that classify as “toys, games and playthings, namely, hand-held units for playing electronic games; hand-held units for playing video games; stand alone video game machines; electronic games other than those adapted for use with television receivers only; LCD game machines; electronic educational game machines; toys, namely battery-powered computer games.” And come to think of it, we did see Apple file for a videogame-related patent not too long ago, so who knows: perhaps the iPod, iphone, and Apple TV will soon have even more friends among the company’s ever-expanding non-PC ecosystem. Then again, we’ve heard this rumor in one form or another countless times before, and right now pining for a resurrected Gizmondo is already giving us enough headaches.

[Via Trademork]

Posted Feb 10th 2008 2:31PM by Ryan Block
Filed under: cellphones
Oh yes, this bad boy is real, alright. More over here.

Posted Feb 10th 2008 11:48AM by Chris Ziegler
Filed under: cellphones, Handhelds
Alright, we’ve got to admit, this looks like a pretty real press rendering to us, so we’re going to bite. This here is allegedly Sony Ericsson’s G700i, one of two members of the all-new “G” line allegedly being introduced at Mobile World Congress this week; if the previously-leaked specs hold up, it’ll include a 3.2 megapixel camera and a 2.5-ish inch display but lack WiFi, which is where its G900i big sib comes into the picture. Seeing how Sony Ericsson’s MWC press conference is within shouting distance at this point, we’ll have this all sorted out soon enough.

[Via SEfanatics]

While the headline may seem familiar it seems that the latest study in Japan that suggests that cell phones are not a brain cancer risk, is the first to look at the effects of hand set radiation levels on different parts of the brain. The study was conducted by the Tokyo Women’s Medical University and found “no increased risk of the three main types of brain cancer among regular mobile phone users.”

The study compared 322 brain cancer patients and 683 healthy people, where the cancer victims had one of the three most common types of brain tumor , namely glioma, meningioma or pituitary adenoma. After studying the radiation emitted, and rating them against sufferers and length of cell phone use they were able to conclude that the cell phone posed no danger:

Lead researcher Professor Naohito Yamaguchi said: “Using our newly developed and more accurate techniques, we found no association between mobile phone use and cancer, providing more evidence to suggest they don’t cause brain cancer.”

It has to be said that previous research has contradicted this latest research.

Via [BBC] Via [Gadgetell]

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We all know that cell phones are dime a dozen, and basically everyone I know has one. I suppose only the retired segment of the population couldn’t care less about new features that are introduced with each generation of handsets, but a cell phone is an essential item for today and no longer considered to be a luxury gadget to have. While phone manufacturers have been pushing a whole bunch of handsets down our throats with each quarter (remember back in the good old days where Nokia released just a couple of handsets each year?), there are a couple of companies who have decided that the consumer should be the one who chooses what they want to see inside each handset instead of getting features which they don’t want/need.

First off we have Modu from Israel who rolled out a GSM handset that will be released this October, coming in the form of a tiny phone which can slide into special “jackets” that are actually phone exteriors with extra functionality. Not only that, you get software which instructs the phone about special color schemes in addition to other features. Imagine needing to snap a photo with your Modu at that moment, where you will slide in a camera “jacket” only to take it off and replace it with a QWERTY keyboard “jacket” whenever you don your business suit. The company is also working on other jackets that aren’t phone-based including GPS devices. Sounds like a dream, but do you actually want to carry different “jackets” with you wherever you go or one handset that has already everything packed inside?

zzzPhone is banking on its build-to-order phone business model, claiming that you order a cell phone in pretty much the same way one orders PC from Dell. Head over to its website, select your desired features and the customized version will be sent to your doorstep. A base model retails for $149, where you can throw in extras such as a 7-megapixel camera, TV tuner or GPS module for extra dough.

Source: Computerworld

Samsung has a new handset for this year that will be a culmination of all that it stands for, and what better moniker to choose than the Soul. This slim slider handset comes with an aluminum finish exterior complete with a 2.2″ QVGA display, a touch capacitance navigation panel, and navigation icons that change depending on the applications used. The Samsung Soul is also ably equipped with features such as a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, face detection, an image stabilizer, quad-band GSM/EDGE, HSDPA support, Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity, an integrated FM radio, MP3 playback and a microSD memory card slot. Heck, a Bang & Olufsen digital power amplifier rounds off the list of impressive features. No idea on how much this costs, but it will be launched in Europe this April.

Source: MobileMag

I remember back when Dell finally wised up and decided to put some AMD chips in their computers. Being a longtime AMD fan, I was overjoyed (even if I wouldn’t touch a Dell with a 10-foot pole) at their decision to give consumers a choice in CPUs. Unfortunately it was around that time that AMD began to really lose ground against Intel. They’ve yet to really pull out of their slump, and now Dell is reconsidering their sales of AMD chips.

So far they’ve just nixed AMD CPUs from their online store. You can still find a few here and there, but that’s only temporary. They’ve add ed a few words of caution to those looking for AMD systems on their site:

Shop for Dell computers with AMD processors in retail stores. See our retail partners for details.
Computers with AMD processors are not available online.
Personally, I think Dell picked the wrong time to partner with AMD. Back when the X2 processors hit the scene AMD was kicking ass and taking names. They’ll pull out of their slump like they always do, and Dell will have another missed opportunity.

Source: DailyTech

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How about having your ashes spread throughout le grande bleu courtesy of a pressed paper capsule? Lots Design of Sweden thinks that this is an idea that might catch on. The “Shell” as it is called, is made out of biodegradable paper and features a pocket so that loved ones of the deceased can put in messages to be carried with the remains into watery oblivion. I can think of worse ways to be sent off.

Yanko Design